Family, police stumped by case of missing teacher

Aug. 25, 2013
|

Matthew Greene, shown at Rocky Mountain National Park, Colo., in 2010, has been missing for more than a month in the Mammoth Lakes area of California's Eastern Sierra mountains, his family says. Authorities have searched without success for the Pennsylvania teacher. / Tom Davidock, AP

by William M. Welch, USA TODAY

by William M. Welch, USA TODAY

A Pennsylvania high school teacher has been missing for more than a month in the remote Eastern Sierra mountains of California, his family says.

Matthew Greene, 39, a Nazareth, Pa., high school math teacher, was last seen by friends while on a backpacking trip at Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and his family remains baffled by his disappearance, his sister, Tiffany Minto, tells the Associated Press.

"It just doesn't seem to me that he would go out for a day hike and not return," says Minto. "We can't visualize him getting himself into any kind of dangerous situation. He's the personality type who would just turn back if it was too dangerous."

Greene arrived in the California mountains in late June on a hiking and climbing trip with friends. He reportedly stayed behind at a campground when he had car trouble, awaiting repairs while his friends continued on their trip. He was last heard from July 16.

A hiker found a pair of eyeglasses that Minto says could be her brother's. They were turned over to the Mammoth Lakes Police Department, which is investigating Greene's disappearance.

Friends and volunteers have been conducting searches and posting about their efforts online. Some of his gear was discovered to be missing, and several pages were torn out of his guidebook, leading to speculation that he might have headed out on a hike, AP reported.

Police say they have little to go on. The area is vast and rugged with mountain peaks 12,000 feet and higher.

"Lots of people have gone into the back country looking, even friends of mine, but we have no leads as to where he might have hiked," Mammoth Lakes Detective Doug Hornbeck told the AP. "There are so many places to go, so many, and search and rescue doesn't know where to start. It's just such a vast area."